Beautiful DreamerWords and Music: Stephen Collins Foster (1826-1864)Beautiful Dreamer has a copyright date of 1864, but in the first edition the copyright reads 1862. Apparently, publishers of Foster’s works often tried to claim they had the “last” song produced by the famed American composer. This song is an ode to a sleeping beauty - a theme found in several of Foster’s songs. Set in a rolling 9/8 meter, the song flows easily and sweetly. Like most of Foster’s songs, Beautiful Dreamer is strophic in form.Stephen Collins Foster, the “father of American music”, composed many songs that are etched into the musical memory of every American, as they are heard everywhere. Songs like Oh Susanna, Camptown Races, and My Old Kentucky Home. Foster wrote close to 200 songs, and like Franz Schubert, he also died tragically early, at the age of 37. The purity of his compositional style is unmistakable and legendary indeed.